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Google Gets Quake II Running In HTML5

Posted by Soulskill on from the browsing-for-strogg dept.

Dr Herbert West writes "A trio of Google engineers have ported id Software's gib-filled first-person shooter Quake II to browsers — you know, for kicks — as a way to show just what HTML5-compatible web browsers are capable of. According to the developers, 'We started with the existing Jake2 Java port of the Quake II engine, then used the Google Web Toolkit (along with WebGL, WebSockets, and a lot of refactoring) to cross-compile it into JavaScript.' More details are available on one developer's blog, and installation instructions have been posted as well."

4 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Re:OMGLOLWTF by endikos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because you can.

  2. Proof of Concept by pavon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The purpose of something like this is to push the boundaries of what can be done in web development as a means of determining where it falls short, and what needs to be done to allow efficient practical applications in the future.

    1. Re:Proof of Concept by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So does this mean the folks whining about "flash is needed for cheap space invader games" can go away now?

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  3. How about OpenQuartz? by iYk6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No you can't. QuakeLive requires a "browser plugin" which defeats the whole point of playing in a browser. You don't get any of the advantages, like sandboxing, cross-platform, or no installation required.

    This article is about running Quake in a browser, which is pretty dang cool, if not really practical. Also, it's not really about Quake or FPS so much as HTML5.

    Urban Terror was a good suggestion. They probably could have gotten permission to distribute it if they asked. I would have suggested OpenQuartz, which is GPL. It's only half a level, but that's plenty for a demo.